1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer telephony systems and methods, and more particularly to an extendable, open and flexible software architecture for a computer telephony server that provides an easily customizable call processing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer telephony systems, i.e., systems that integrate computers and telephones, are widely used in the art. By combining the power of computers with telephones and messaging services, computer telephony systems have become powerful business tools. The computer telephony systems known in the art are capable of combining voice messaging, facsimile messaging, paging, electronic mail, and other messaging services, through implementations such as interactive voice response systems and unified messaging.
Recently, there have been rapid advances in computer hardware, software and communications systems. As a result, businesses relying on computer telephony systems are confronted with choosing between expensive upgrades in hardware and software or losing a competitive advantage. In addition, businesses also require a computer telephony system that can be easily customized to meet their business needs. Thus, there is a need in the art for a computer telephony system that is extendible, open and flexible. A computer telephony system would be extendible and open if new applications and hardware resources could be added without requiring major modifications of the computer telephony system, including adding new hardware and rewriting software. A flexible computer telephony system would be compatible with multiple hardware platforms and be easily customizable, allowing the computer telephony system to serve various business needs.